Observing Protest from a Place – The World Social Forum in Dakar (2011)

272 Pages·2015·3.274 MB·English

by  Johanna Siméant, Marie-Emmanuelle Pommerolle, Isabelle Sommier

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Observing Protest from a Place
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Protest and Social Movements
Recent years have seen an explosion of protest movements around the world,
and academic theories are racing to catch up with them. This series aims to
further our understanding of the origins, dealings, decisions, and outcomes
of social movements by fostering dialogue among many traditions of thought,
across European nations and across continents. All theoretical perspectives are
welcome. Books in the series typically combine theory with empirical research,
dealing with various types of mobilization, from neighborhood groups to
revolutions. We especially welcome work that synthesizes or compares diffferent
approaches to social movements, such as cultural and structural traditions,
micro- and macro-social, economic and ideal, or qualitative and quantitative.
Books in the series will be published in English. One goal is to encourage non-
native speakers to introduce their work to Anglophone audiences. Another is to
maximize accessibility: all books will be available in open access within a year
after printed publication.
Series editors
Jan Willem Duyvendak is professor of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam.
James M. Jasper teaches at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
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Observing Protest from a Place
The World Social Forum in Dakar (2011)
Edited by
Johanna Siméant, Marie-Emmanuelle Pommerolle and Isabelle Sommier
Amsterdam University Press
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Cover illustration: Senegalese Women at the opening march of the World Social Forum,
Dakar, February 6, 2011
Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden
Typesetting: Crius Group, Hulshout
Amsterdam University Press English-language titles are distributed in the US and Canada by
the University of Chicago Press.
isbn 978 90 8964 780 1
e-isbn 978 90 4852 580 5 (pdf)
nur 692
© Johanna Siméant, Marie-Emmanuelle Pommerolle & Isabelle Sommier / Amsterdam
University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2015
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of
this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise)
without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book.
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Table of contents
Acknowledgements 9
Introduction 11
Johanna Siméant, Marie-Emmanuelle Pommerolle and Isabelle
Sommier
1 Methodological reasons for observing a WSF in Africa 12
2 The division of labor and the paradoxes of activist
internationalization 15
3 Contexts of international collective action 18
1 What can quantitative surveys tell us about GJM activists? 21
Isabelle Sommier
1.1 Data and methods 22
1.2 The seemingly convergent portrait of the alter-global activist 26
1.3 The evolution of the multi-organizational fijield of alter-
globalism: a delicate comparison 32
1.4 Conclusion 38
2 Activist encounters at the World Social Forum 41
Nationalism and sovereignty in an internationalized event
Marie-Emmanuelle Pommerolle
2.1 Internationalized nationalism and sovereignty 44
2.2 The misunderstanding that produces nationalist
commitments 50
2.3 Conclusion 58
3 Mapping a population and its taste in tactics 59
Johanna Siméant, with Ilhame Hajji
3.1 What do we know about how familiar alter-globalization
activists are with protest practices? 59
3.2 Familiarity with protest practices among the respondents
at the Dakar WSF 63
3.3 Using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and
Ascending Hierarchical Clustering to study populations
“in a situation of militancy” in an international event 69
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3.4 Ascending Hierarchical Clustering, composition of groups
of participants, and “bringing real people back in” through
paragons 78
3.5 Conclusion 89
4 Women’s issues and activists at the World Social Forum in Dakar 91
Julie Castro
4.1 Transnational, but not only: the actors of women’s issues
in Dakar 96
4.2 Strategies, tensions, and blind spots around women’s
issues in Dakar 103
5 Division of labor and partnerships in transnational social
movements 115
Observations of North-South and South-South interactions at the
World Social Forum
Hélène Baillot, Isaline Bergamaschi and Ruggero Iori
5.1 Acting “on behalf of” or acting “with.” Methods of North-
South cooperation at the Forum 117
5.2 South-South interactions at the WSF: another kind of
cooperation? 125
6 Making waste (in)visible at the Dakar World Social Forum 137
A Gofffmanian perspective on a transnational alter-global gathering
William Herrera, Alice Judell and Clément Paule
6.1 Waste management as stage-setting for a transnational
alter-global event 139
6.2 Audiences 147
6.3 Backstage tactics and the boundaries of an
institutionalized activist space 152
7 Latin Americans at the World Social Forum in Dakar 157
The relationship between the alter-global movement and the
institutional sphere
Isaline Bergamaschi, Tania Navarro Rodríguez and Héloïse Nez
7.1 The singularity of the Latin Americans’ relationship to
politics 160
7.2 Explaining Latin American singularity: a specifijic militant
profijile 167
7.3 Conclusion 176
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8 Groups and organizations at the WSF 179
Polarities, intermediaries, and hierarchies in the alter-global arena
Johanna Siméant, with Ilhame Hajji
8.1 Between material support of mobilization and ideological
indicators: a forum portrait through organizations 181
8.2 Organizational space and social space 187
8.3 Understanding the afffijinities between organizations 190
9 Stepping back from your fijigures to fijigure out more 201
Ilka Vari-Lavoisier
9.1 Why and how to inquire about “no-replies” 201
9.2 A panorama of “no-replies” in the WSF survey 202
9.3 Do the conditions of participation shape the modalities of
participation? 203
9.4 When “no-replies” question the question 206
9.5 Level of instruction, social capital, and political competence 208
9.6 Feeling of political competence and nationality 210
9.7 Conducting surveys in several languages: methodological
challenges 212
9.8 Insurmountable difffijiculties? Diffferent worlds of meaning 213
9.9 Conclusion: what no-replies reveal 214
10 Conclusion 217
Johanna Siméant
Technical appendix: Surveying an international event through a
multinational team 221
General data on participants 225
Appendix to Chapter 8 on groups and organizations : Clusters
obtained by Ascending Hierarchical Clustering 227
Questionnaire for participants to the Dakar World Social Forum 233
Editor’s biographies 251
Bibliography 253
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Index 265
Author’s names 265
Concepts and notions 267
Organizations, places and public persons’ names 268
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Acknowledgements
This book, and the survey that gave birth to it, would not have been possible
without the collective commitment of the many persons who dedicated
their energies to it.
The authors of this book were not the only ones to pass out surveys
amongst the dusty venues of the World Social Forum: they also want to
thank, for sharing this work and the long evening discussions and debrief-
ings in a courtyard of Dakar, Raphaël Botiveau, Abigaïl Boucheix, Em-
manuelle Bouilly, Christophe Broqua, Marie Brossier, Emma Chaouane,
Antoine De Boyer, Mathilde Debain, Yacine Diagne, Hadyatou Diallo, Yaya
Diaw, Geneviève Diémé, Seynabou Dramé, Rokaya Fall, Ousmane Fall,
Clarisse Fordant, Thomas Fouquet, Lisbeth Gasca, Mame Coumba Gueye,
Véronique Jampy, Idrissa Mané, Moussa Montero, Marame Ndour, Saliou
Ngom, Thomas Perrot, Ophélie Rillon, Ismaïla Sané, Jeanne Semin, Aude
Servais, Nedjib Sidi Moussa, Safiji Virginius, and Awa Yade.
Not only did they pass out surveys but they were precious for both
material and intellectual reasons: thank you Xavier Audrain, Séverine
Awenengo, and Hélène Charton for your commitment to this experience.
We also greatly benefijited from Prof. Ibrahima Thioub’s help, as well as from
other colleagues of the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar (UCAD), the
Centre de recherche sur les politiques sociales de Dakar (CREPOS) and
the Gaston Berger University (GBU) in Saint-Louis. Paul Antropius and
his digital creativity were invaluable in the conception of a database that
allowed us to code and stock data online, and Ilhame Hajji’s help was crucial
for statistical exploitation. The book was translated by Susan Taponier,
whose commitment was precious. Marina Urquidi also translated a chapter,
and Alice Judell checked the fijinal English editing.
The book greatly benefijited from the comments of Sidney Tarrow and
Julie Pagis during a workshop in spring 2012 in Paris, and from Jim Jasper
and the reviewers of Amsterdam University Press.
The survey and the book have been supported by the graduate school
college of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, the Research Group Extreme Cri-
ses, the ANR Causes Africaines, two CNRS research units from Paris 1
Panthéon-Sorbonne, the CESSP and the IMAF, the department of politi-
cal science at Panthéon-Sorbonne, the Labex Tepsis, and the Service de
coopération culturelle de l’Ambassade de France (SCAC) in Dakar. As
always, Catherine Bailleux was an invaluable administrative support,
with Chantal Lisse.
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